Steve Madden Goes Off on Rival CEO Stacey Bendet Over Lawsuit Claims

Steve Madden unleashed a profanity-laced tirade on the founder of a clothing company who's accused him of stealing her design ... after accusing her of being rude to him.

Alice + Olivia CEO and creative director Stacey Bendet posted her tense exchange Monday with Madden, saying the famed shoe god launched "a verbal assault on me in a hotel lobby."

She called it an "example of bullying, copying, and overall disrespect toward creativity and women," and claims Madden lost his temper after she called him out for allegedly copying her trademarked designs.

In the vid, Madden's heard telling Bendet ... "Honey, if you're going to be rude, you can go f*** yourself." He repeats it after she says he once told her if she's not copying people she's not doing a good job ... and then he accuses her of copying people.

Bendet and Madden have history -- her company sued one of his companies, Betsey Johnson, back in 2018 for allegedly ripping off Alice + Olivia's "StaceFace" design, which consists of a stylized woman's face featuring large black framed sunglasses appearing above red lips.

Madden's company was accused of using a face design similar to Bendet's StaceFace on its products, and it appears the 2 sides reached a confidential settlement in June 2019.

Clearly, Bendet's not over it ... and neither is Madden. Making his outburst even worse -- Bendet says her 4-year-old daughter was present and can be heard yelling in the background.